What is better than decorating your house for Christmas? Decorating it with your own 3D printed personalized Christmas ornament! That’s why we designed these 3D printable Christmas ball lithophanes for you to personalize. Let’s learn how!
Christmas is just around the corner, and we all think about decorating our houses to make them as cozy as possible. Christmas trees are the major element to lift up the Christmas spirit and atmosphere for children and adults alike. It’s joyous to prepare & decorate your house – If everything is according to plan.
It’s a wonderful moment when you finished your setup and light up your Christmas Tree. But this year, we will make it even more special! With the help of Ludovic Richter from Litho3D & ItsLitho lithophane maker, we’ve made it possible for you to make a 3D printed Christmas ball lithophane in a very simple way. And as a light source, we have used garland lights. It couldn’t be easier!
So how do you make a 3D printed Christmas ball from a lithophane? Let’s jump in!
The goal of this design is clear, making it easy to design, easy to print, easy to assemble & easy to decorate.
This model comes in 2 sizes each. One model that fits garlands with spot LEDs with a diameter of a maximum of 9mm. And one model that fits Lantern LEDs with a maximum diameter of 11.2mm.
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First, head over to the ItsLitho Lithophane maker, preferably in a different tab to follow this guide alongside the tool. Once you’ve done that, we can begin to create our unique lithophane Christmas ball!
To start building your own Christmas balls, download the dedicated profile for the Christmas ball lithophane. In the video below, we show you everything you need to know about ItsLitho profiles.
The image preparation is being made in two stages.
Stage 1 | Select the images you would like to use
Select your image and size it. You can use picture software to crop and size it to the desired dimensions. To avoid any excessive deformation when it will be wrapped on the spherical lithophane, the best Height/Length ratio is roughly 1:3. Basically, your image should be a rectangle with 3 Lengths for 1 Height.
You can import 2 or more images to be wrapped on the lithophane, but this ratio (H:L) should be close to 1:3 at the end.
Stage 2 | Enhance the contrast by adjusting the image inside ItsLitho
Upload and optimize your image to improve the lithophane’ contrast when lighted. Important here is to adjust the picture contrast and lighting to enhance the difference between the dark and light areas.
When you are happy with the looks of your image, we can focus on the last part, the 3D model settings.
We only need to take a look at the most important setting for lithophanes. The thickness. The thickness is depending on the filament you use. In our store, we mention per filament what min/max settings are the best for that type of filament.
This print benefits with a lower min/max than usual since the light source that we are going to use is not very bright. This 3D design is optimized for a 0.8-2.8mm min/max.
When you are done with all your settings, we can download the lithophane (no attribute needed).
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Next, we need to make sure we got one of the Christmas ball attributes needed for the design.
The download package contains:
Now we choose and print the remaining parts which are needed to build the Christmas ball. All Christmas ball attributes work the same way:
Print all parts flat on the building plate, support and brim could help but are not mandatory.
Check out: slicing tips for lithophane for more information slicing lithophanes.
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When all parts are printed, you can assemble your 3D Printed Christmas balls lithophane as seen in the video below.
You’re now ready to create your own amazing Christmas ball Lithophane with garland light using ItsLitho. Light up the Christmas ball & enjoy the magic!
Also, Check out our Christmas bell Lithophane!
Interested in more Christmas decorations? Click here for more Christmas creations!
Free online designing software that helps you create high-quality 3D printed lithophanes. It’s a simple yet powerful cross-platform lithophane maker.
